There are many hard times to pick from, that’s true. When people didn’t pay their bills for months. As soon as the power went out. Jayson Tatum and his mother, Brandy Cole, slept in the same bed for a few years. They didn’t have any furniture for a while.

That was just the small stuff—the kinds of problems and difficulties you’d expect as the only child of a 19-year-old single mother. Cole kept her son from seeing most of it. There was no doubt in her mind that she would be successful, despite the facts about young parents. He would learn from her. So she didn’t let him worry about the problems he faced every day at that time.

She always wanted to show him that things were getting better for them.

But one day, when Tatum was in fifth grade, he could no longer hide from the truth.

Cole moved out of her mom’s house when Tatum was six months old because she wanted the two of them to have their own life. You can find her in University City, St. Louis, where she bought a tiny, two-bedroom, 900-square-foot house. They had a chain-link fence and a garden the size of a postage stamp. Most importantly, they had a roof over their heads.

That day, the house had one more thing about it.

Tatum saw a pink piece of paper stuck to the front door when Cole picked up her son from school. This is a letter of foreclosure.

“And she started crying,” Tatum says. “I had no idea what to do.” That’s how helpless I felt. It hurts me so much to not help. But I was only 11 years old.”

Tatum’s mom went inside because she felt like she had let down her son. That mother and son swam in their sadness for an hour or two.

It was the worst. Tatum remembers it well. After a great rookie year at Duke, he is now a top pick in the NBA draft. But not just because it felt like I had hit rock bottom. Because of what came next too.

Cole wiped her eyes and looked at her kid.

She told him, “Okay.” “I’ll find a way.” “I always do it.”

Tatum’s first grade teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up.

It was simple to answer. Of course, an NBA player. The teacher laughed. She told Tatum to choose a realistic job. Change your hopes and dreams.

Cole says, “I was furious.” “The next day, I went to school and talked to the teacher, but it wasn’t like a conversation between us.” When you ask him a question and he answers, I don’t think it’s right to tell him that’s something he can’t do while I’m at home telling him that anything he can dream is possible (“Ma’am”).

But living in their two-bedroom house wasn’t about dreams; it was about making things happen.

When Tatum’s mom found out she was pregnant, she still had a few months to go to college. Not going to school? No. The single mom had a baby over spring break and went back to school the next week. After that, she just brought her little kid to class. He kept going to college, law school, and business school classes with his mom. She would study for law school while her son slept at the foot of her bed. She had property law books that he would look through. He would tell her, “Mom, I never want to read books like that again.” Say, “I want to play basketball.” She would tell him, “Well, you better work hard.”

He did that. At 5:30 a.m. every morning, he’d sneak into his mom’s room and say, “I’m gone, Mom.” “I adore you.” After that, I went to the gym for a 90-minute workout before class.

 

“Every day I get to school around 6:30, and he was here at 5:45 or 6 o’clock getting his work done,” says Frank Bennett, Tatum’s coach at St. Louis’ Chaminade Prep. He did it every single day, which is pretty amazing! I remember the one day he didn’t work. It was the next day after we won state. He only had that one day off.

“That’s just him. He worked and worked and worked and worked.

Tatum’s dad remembers the moment he knew his son had a special skill. Tatum was in the fifth grade and played in a league with grown men. Each game, he scored 25 points on average. “The older guys asked, ‘Wait, how old is this kid?'” Justin Tatum makes a funny face.

Thanks to Brandy Cole

Tatum’s mom raised him, but Dad was always there. Every day, he called Tatum. Tatum would walk around his dad’s locker room at Saint Louis University while his eyes were wide open during pregame talks. Tatum’s mom took him to meet his dad in the Netherlands while Justin was playing professionally there. After playing basketball for his country, Justin moved back to St. Louis and became one of Tatum’s main trainers.

They were almost friends instead of father and son because they were close in age. Justin taught his son about hip-hop artists from his age, like Jay Z, Tupac, and Biggie. Tatum, on the other hand, taught his dad about what sneakers are cool right now. Tatum would give his dad shoes when he was in high school. Tatum had bigger feet than his dad, but his dad would just wear an extra pair of socks.

Tatum, on the other hand, will say that his mom is the reason he is so grown and sure of himself. His mother drilled him at home. Tatum liked to play NBA2K in his room, but his mom would walk in and tell him to stop. She would then hit him with a hairbrush. Mom was the reporter, taking a break from her job as a lawyer who deals with policy and compliance. Jayson was the star player. She would question him about the game like she was Craig Sager. “Ma, who are you going to ask me these things?” What Jayson would say. “ESPN—when you’re one of the best players in the country,” she said.

He would soon be a silky-smooth wing, a top-five recruit, and the star of what recruiters called Coach K’s best-ever signing class.

Before choosing a prospect, NBA teams measure everything they can think of with great care. Weight, wingspan, standing reach, body fat percentage, hand length, hand width, standing vertical jump, max vertical jump, lane agility time, shuttle run, three-quarter court sprint…

But NBA scouts say the most important part of their job is talking to coaches and front-office leaders for a long time. This is where they judge what’s going on in the player’s head. Character and attitude are important. Just ask the teams that picked up players like Draymond Green, Malcolm Brogdon, Steph Curry, and Gordon Hayward.

The things that Tatum measures speak for themselves. We saw him at the Hoop Summit in Portland a year ago. He was a little over 6’8″ and had a reach of almost seven feet. Averaging 16.8 points and 7.3 rebounds in 29 games at Duke, he showed that he can be both reliable and impressive. He has put muscle on his skinny body since then. For a rookie wing, he shot well: 34.2 percent from three-point range and 84.9 percent from the free-throw line.

USA TODAY Sports Jeremy Brevard

But Tatum may shine most in the part that’s hidden, between the ears. This is where his brain has been trained for 19 years to get to this point.

Analyst for ESPN Jay Bilas says he saw Tatum in October, right before Duke’s summer pro day. It was on the pro day that Tatum hurt his foot and had to miss more than a month of work. Tatum played a pick-up game with some other past NBA players from Duke. Bilas saw a great young player: confident and smart, and he opened the eyes of these NBA pros.

Bilas says, “He’s so good at basketball that I think he’s the best player in the country.” “He was made to play basketball.” He might be behind Markelle Fultz on draft boards, but I think Tatum is better. He can guard more than one spot. He’s long and 6’8″. He’s the best draft pick for the long run.

“It’s hard because you’re not writing for now; you’re writing for later.” How good will Jayson be in three or four years? “I think he’s going to be great.”

Agents and scouts for the NBA might not all think that Tatum is the best prospect in this very strong draft. A lot of people will say Fultz. Some will say Lonzo Ball from UCLA or Josh Jackson from Kansas. But it would be hard to find an NBA executive who doesn’t think Tatum has the perfect body and mind for the game.

A manager in the Eastern Conference says, “Tatum is a 6’9″ point guard, point forward, or whatever you want to call him.” “He can run an offense and come up with plays for other players.” “He’s just a very smart player.”

Since the NBA no longer has positions, Tatum fits in. He knows how to handle the ball well enough to bring it up the court. He’s a good outside shot who could get better. Scouts see him as both a natural 3 and a 4 because of his size and skill. He is a skilled 4 who can spread the floor and defend himself well. NBA scouts see a tall, thin player with great first steps and great offensive skills.

One boss from the Western Conference says he’s like Nicolas Batum. People have also said that he is like Harrison Barnes, Rudy Gay, or Allan Houston, but his potential is a bit better than all four of them. He is likened to Ron Artest by a different Eastern Conference boss.

“But when Ron Artest was really good, it was more than a franchise-level piece.” He’s a great player who helps a good team, but he doesn’t lead a bad team.

Once more, they say things that he can’t be.

Brandy Cole did what she said she would do. She tried to get the loan changed, and just in time, they were able to keep their house.

She says, “I was always so proud that we had our own home, and he loved it here—he still does.” “When you’re young, you shouldn’t worry about moving in with your grandmother and packing up your room. “I’m going to do this” was a sign of pride. “I’m not going to become a number.”

Tatum has learned that lesson, which is about getting through tough times and working hard in the hopes that it will pay off in the end. He used what he learned to work hard and be determined, which is what got him so close to his NBA dream. The alerts at 5 a.m. The 250 shots he took every morning before high school. Little things like working on his footwork for his fadeaway, his jump shot’s verticality, and his hip twist to give his attacking moves more power will make him a millionaire in two weeks.

He will be picked high in the lottery by the Lakers, the Celtics, the Suns, or any other team that moves up to get him. Afterward, he will walk across the stage, shake Adam Silver’s hand, and begin a new part of his basketball path.

He will always remember where he came from and what he had to go through to get here, though. He remembered that many of his extended family members were in the stands at all of his games. I remember yelling his mom’s name and telling her he loved her when she graduated from law school. He remembers all the hard times and great times in a life that didn’t follow the rules.

Tatum and his mother have a plan for when he signs his first NBA deal. They want to help single moms in St. Louis by starting a non-profit group. They want to use Tatum’s influence as well as the impact of a few other St. Louis-born professional athletes: Bradley Beal, Ben McLemore, and Ezekiel Elliott.

They don’t want to sell that house because they still live there.

“We’ve grown 10 times too big for the house,” Cole laughs. “But he doesn’t want to sell it.”

Thanks to Brandy Cole

That house will now be a temporary home for a single mom. Tatum’s mom wants to help someone get back on their feet by letting a single mom and her child or children live there for free for a year.

Tatum and his mom know, though, that they can’t change the future before it happens. So from now until June 22, they just work on the job at hand: Feel better. Spend a lot of time on the basics. Show the NBA that the things that can’t be measured are just as amazing as the things that can.

Tatum’s mom can’t help but look ahead sometimes.

She says, “Sometimes I text him in the morning to remind him how many days are left until draft day.” “Really, how many people can say they only have a certain number of days left until their dream comes true?”